Cover of the Week 9/10 – Superman Wonder Woman #1 by Tony Daniel

Tony Daniel has surpassed himself on the first issue of Superman Wonder Woman because his art, together with the inside pages are stunning. A book like this needs to look epic, because it is not often you meet heroes more powerful than Wonder Woman and Superman. It is a classic comic pillar that Supes essentially has to portray a God amongst men. This cover does that by the traditional methods: muscular and slender physiques, mid action poses, grit determination facial features and flourishing cape or hair. Tony Daniel utilises characters eyes to good effect, not only with emphatic lines but also use in their shapes. Tomeu Morey’s colouring of this page is also bright and varied which is essentially in keeping with our heroes’ outfits, continuing to the rest of the page. Even the name plate looks cool, because it is a good choice of accompanying colours for a rather clunky title. The true quality is unveiled when you open the cover and gasp at the landscape of the Wonder Woman and Superman world. The cast on either side of the main page is perfectly apt to their solo titles and almost views as a large family portrait. Wonder Woman’s family are all there staring with intensity and many of them are Azzarello’s creation. They are a mixture of friend and foes but predominantly they are all siblings. Superman’s side of the portrait are his enemies and include classic characters such as Darkseid, Brainiac, Bizarro, Zod and Lex. There is an element of symmetry as we can see how Orion and Brainiac mirror each others poses, and corresponding sizes of our characters. The colouring continues to be beautiful and contrasting throughout without being garish. There is slightly a darker tone to Superman page compared to Diana’s and once again plays an interesting contrast. The meaning of this cover can be speculated upon for a while but essentially it is a merging of universes and families. Our two protagonists are a couple and this comic represents their worlds combining, the good and the bad, in sickness and in health. Tony Daniel has researched and produced a spectacular centrepiece to this novel concept and book, and I am surprisingly excited about it.